It’s official. Level 3 Communications announced this morning that its $5.7 billion purchase of Littleton-based TW Telecom is officially complete.

The Broomfield Internet company offers some interesting details about the purchase, including that by acquiring the Littleton company, Level 3’s will see a boost in “enterprise revenue in North America from approximately 65 percent to 70 percent of the region’s total revenue.”

TW Telecom does business predominantly in the United States, with a focus on getting connecting offices and businesses to a secure Internet. Level 3, which has a massive fiber network around the globe, targets all sorts of users, from mobile providers to businesses like Starbucks.

Level 3 Communications shareholders meet Tuesday to vote on whether to approve the $5.7 billion acquisition of TW Telecom. The Feds are okay with it so this is pretty much the last hurdle before two local fiber-optic giants become even greater.

On Thursday, Oct. 30, Denver’s Office of Economic Development is hosting Denver Tech Talent Day at ICOSA Media on Jackson Street. Click here are the details.

If you missed it, Boulder’s Revolv announced last Friday it was getting acquired by Nest (the company Google acquired for $3.2 billion last January). Revolv unifies many of the nifty home-automation products that typically require separate mobile apps to control.

The 2012 Techstars graduate said that service will continue for existing customers but it’s not signing up new customers.

Got local tech news? If you’re a Colorado tech company and have something to say, let me know ahead of time to get your company/product/service/news on our radar. Email me at tchuang at denverpost.com

A new app launching exclusively in Denver Saturday night will let you peer into a nightclub’s reservation system and see if any celebrities have booked a table. Of course, it’ll also let you book your own table, see the minimums and order a bottle of Cristal to have chilling on your table.

“What pushed this along was Ty was in Vegas and one club kept changing the minimums on him,” said Bird, who is from Denver and met Lawson a few years ago. “The best way to solve the problem was to fix it ourselves.”

When the app goes live on Saturday, you just may see Lawson at a table at Beta, which Rolling Stone magazine named as one of the best nightclubs in the U.S. last year.

Bottles Waiting is available on iTunes though it won’t work properly until Saturday. But it’ll give you VIP access to Beta, Club Vinyl, Bar Standard, Epernay Lounge and Proof. Besides seeing what events are happening at the clubs, you can check out the club’s layout, available tables and pre-purchase bottle service right on your iPhone. You’ll also see if any celebrities are planning to be there.

Ello is sure to cause a commotion today and not because the Boulder-based social networking site went viral a few weeks ago.

The start-up got its first round of funding, raising $5.5 million from a group of investors led by Foundry Group (see its statement), Techstars’ Bullet Time Ventures and FreshTracks Capital.

And then it today converted to a State of Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), in which Ello pledges 3 things:

Ello must never make money from selling ads

Ello must never make money from selling user data

In the event that Ello is ever sold, the new owners would also have to comply by these terms

What does that mean? “The Ello PBC Charter makes it legally impossible under US law for investors to require Ello to ever show ads, sell user data, or sell the company to any buyer who would violate any of the listed conditions,” the company said in a statement.

All along, co-founder Todd Berger has said Ello is ad-free and will always be. It doesn’t track users, and it doesn’t care to. But skeptics were everywhere, which is probably why Ello converted to a public charter.

While you would think this would greatly limit potential revenue and financial growth, new investors apparently don’t think so.

“Signing the Ello charter was a no brainer for us as investors,” said Mark Solon, Managing Partner at Techstars. “We believe in the mission and the PBC further enforces the manifesto, and Ello’s vision to never market their users to third parties.”

Ello co-founders Todd Berger and Lucien Fohr at their Boulder office.

Confused about Ello? A few steps to get you started.

Berger told me in a recent interview that Ello is definitely a business and will eventually begin charging for certain features, like more profile customization. It will definitely be an interesting experiment to survive in this commercial-heavy, very public world. (Watch the video)

If you are so lucky to have a ticket to today’s Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers game, think about those who are less fortunate.

And an easy way to help is to bring all your old mobile phones lying around the house.

The Broncos have teamed up with Verizon Wireless HopeLine to help support survivors of domestic violence. Donated phones that still work will be refurbished and sold for reuse. Those that don’t will be disposed of in an environmentally safe way. Proceeds will be donated to local shelters and non-profit organizations that focus domestic violence prevention and awareness.

Have you been wondering what that buzzy new social network Ello is all about? So were we. So, we stopped by its headquarters in Boulder (the design studio of Berger & Fohr) and got a beginner’s guide to Ello from co-founder Todd Berger.

The possibly earth-changing mobile payment system of Apple Pay launches today. However, you’ll need the latest phones (iPhone 6 or 6 plus) and download the new iOS 8.1, which as of 9:30 MST is not yet available. (Apple tells me “mid to late morning Pacific Time…”)

Apple Pay promises to be the missing link that just may get consumers to ditch their wallets and credit cards and use their phones to pay for dinner or merchandise while shopping at brick and mortar stores. I’ll be taking a first-hand look at the phenomena, as soon as I can download it!

Got local tech news? If you’re a Colorado tech company and have something to say, let me know ahead of time to get your company/product/service/news on our radar. Email me at tchuang at denverpost.com.

The city of Englewood may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of tech hubs in Colorado. But this south Denver city of about 30,255 (according to the 2010 Census) came out on the very top of Google’s list of 2014 eCities.

There is a key reason, explained Google’s Emma Ogiemwany:

The methodology, done by independent researchers at Ipsos, started with the local effectiveness of Google AdWords, which businesses use to advertise products and services on Google. (A ha!)

“The first cut was AdWords penetration rate. We just needed some consistent standard to lower the number of cities we were analyzing around the country,” Ogiemwany told me.

Google took the top 5 cities in every state and winnowed it down based on the web presence, e-commerce and social networking activity of the city’s small businesses. Englewood trounced the state competition thanks to companies like Front Range Ski Bus, the shuttle bus service that drives people from downtown Denver to area ski resorts.

New iMacs get more defined
They look the same, but the buzzy new iMac is thinner (5 mm) and has the highest definition yet.
* New Retina 5k display has a resolution of 5120 x 2880 pixels or 7x more resolution than typical HDTVs
* Price: 27-inch $2,499, includes 1 TB Fusion Drive, 8 GB memory and it ships today
* Other new iMacs (no Retina 5k display) start at $1,099 for the 21.5 inch

Apple Pay: Begins Monday. Apple’s version of a mobile-based payment system will let people pay for stuff with their iPhone at places like Panera Bread, Target and Uber.

OS X Yosemite: The new Mac operating system should be available today for free. It touts features like a revamped Safari (allegedly 6.6-times faster than other browsers), connects better with the mobile iOS and now lets you make regular phone calls on a Mac.

Comments Off on Apple: New iPads, an iMac with a 5K display and Apple Pay launches

Today’s new feature from Denver’s Ping Identity makes it one step easier to continue collaborating with co-workers on your smartphone securely after you leave the office.

Ping partnered with Sprint to let people use a single username and password to access Google’s business apps in a way that meets office IT department’s security requirements. Called PingOne, the service specializes in keeping data in the cloud secure so business users can continue to collaborate on their smartphones. More details at www.sprint.com/googleapps.

My first Techstars Demo Day and can I say wow! The event itself, held Thursday at the Boulder Theater, was more boisterous, had better music and had more attendees in jeans than past events I covered back at my last gig in Orange County.

It’s difficult not to get excited about the start-ups presenting at the event, as the crowds constantly interrupted speakers with applause, cheers and laughs. And these are folks who, while probably big supporters, also PAID to get in to Demo Day. The event had a lot of interesting tweaks to existing and staid practices (HR, product recalls and manuals, credit cards… ) I hope that they make it. And Techstars does have a pretty good track record. Just check out their stats.

A few that I had time to write about (I hope to expand on these and the rest in the near future):

Final — With major retailers reporting credit-card hacks, Final offers a credit card with a number that changes when you decide. Use a number once, or let it expire after a certain time. They just started taking signups and already, there are 19,507 people ahead of me.

Expensebot — Leave it to artificial intelligence to manage your monthly expense report. “Spence” will remind you to take a photo of a restaurant receipt in case it’s a business lunch. Or ask if the taxi charge is a business expense. It learns your patterns and ultimately will do your expenses for you so you don’t even have to think about it.

All4Staff — As a new employee here at the Post, I don’t know how many forms I filled out and signed. At least I was getting paid while doing so! All4Staff wants to minimize paperwork and employer expenses by making the whole process digital. Through an app, a new employee can fill out forms, sign documents and snap photos of their driver’s license while at home before they start work.

Lassy Project — When Jessica Ridgeway was kidnapped and murdered two years ago in Westminster, communities rallied. And the Lassy Project got started. Their app creates trusted communities that parents can reach out to within seconds in case a child goes missing. Apparently, 7,500 users have already downloaded the app. It’s helped with five Amber alerts. And two dozen police departments support it. The app is free, with premium services offered to keep track of your child.

Notion — One of the few hardware startups, Notion turns your house into an Internet home where all your appliances, windows, doors, lights and utilities talk to you. Sensors placed around the house can determine if someone’s breaking into the liquor cabinet, the dishwasher is leaking or if the propane tank is running low before the big BBQ.

Wunder — A new investment fund that vets viable solar projects. It also acts as a utility by charging customers for the energy used, which it then pays back to investors monthly.

Comments Off on Techstars Demo Day: Good ideas that hopefully become reality

Tamara Chuang covers personal technology and local tech news for The Denver Post. She previously spent 10 years doing the same thing for The Orange County Register before taking a hiatus to move here and become a SAHM to a precocious toddler.